BEIRUT (Reuters) – The al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed a twin bomb attack in Beirut on Wednesday, saying such attacks would continue until Hezbollah forces withdrew from the fighting in Syria and its own fighters were released from Lebanese jails.

The radical Lebanese group, which claimed the attack on its Twitter account, also said it was responsible for a November 19 attack on the Iranian embassy that killed 23 people, using the same tactic of twin suicide bombs. In both cases, most of the victims were civilians.

Hezbollah is a powerful Shi’ite Muslim political and militant group in Lebanon that is funded by Iran. The group has sent hundreds of fighters to neighboring Syria, giving a boost to its ally President Bashar al-Assad against mainly Sunni rebels seeking to topple him.

“We will continue – through the grace of God and his strength – to target Iran and its party in Lebanon (Hezbollah) in all of their security, political and military centers to achieve our two demands: One, the exit of all fighters from the Party of Iran in Syria. Two, the release of all our prisoners from oppressive Lebanese prisons,” the statement said.

The three-year uprising in Syria, which began as popular protests but descended into civil war, has increasingly been taken over by Sunni Islamist groups. Some rebel groups have affinities or direct links to al Qaeda or militant groups in neighboring countries such as Lebanon and Iraq.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades have strong links to Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps as well as connections with the Gulf. One of its senior military leaders, Majid bin Muhammad al-Majid, was a Saudi national. He was arrested by Lebanese authorities last December, who said he died from kidney failure while in their custody.

Several other figures said to be linked to the group have been captured by Lebanese intelligence forces in recent months. Last week, the army arrested Naim Abbas, a man suspected of being a leading member of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

Lebanese military forces described Abbas as the “mastermind of car bombs” that have targeted Shi’ite areas in recent months, of which there have been at least nine.

The attacks have targeted Hezbollah-controlled neighborhoods around the capital Beirut and towns on the northern Syrian-Lebanese border, where Hezbollah is also powerful.

In its Wednesday statement, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades said its attacks were a sign of solidarity with the Syrian uprising, now nearly three years old.

“We say to the people of Syria, rejoice, for your blood is our blood, and the Party of Iran (Hezbollah) will not enjoy safety in Lebanon until safety is returned to you in Syria.”

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Pictures of rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad laughing and shaking hands after a local ceasefire have sparked outrage on both sides, shocked at the outpouring of goodwill after three years of fierce bloodletting.

The images came from a media trip organized by the Syrian government to the Damascus suburb of Babila, the latest in a series of districts to agree a truce that most opposition critics say works in Assad’s favor.

Heavy fighting continues throughout most of Syria. The localized truces have been agreed mostly around Damascus and have ended prolonged government sieges on those rebel-held areas, many of which were waged for more than a year and caused severe hunger to the point of illness and death.

“I felt like I would have a stroke, looking at those pictures,” said a local activist, called Mohammed, speaking on Skype from the nearby rebel-held district of Jobar, which has not yet agreed any form of ceasefire. “How can they forget how those forces have starved our people for over a year, how they bombed us mercilessly for months?”

Some rebels in the Damascus suburbs said the pictures were staged, arguing the rebel gunmen were actually pro-Assad militias dressed to look like opposition fighters. Others said the pictures were real.

Reuters photographers were among the journalists at the Babila media tour, but there was no way to confirm the identity of those photographed.

Whether the scenes were genuine or faked, the photos – which show armed combatants from both sides chatting and relaxed – stood in stark contrast to the chilly atmosphere on display at the second round of “Geneva 2″ peace talks last week. Diplomats failed to make any progress.

Rebels and Assad forces who agreed to the truces will now work joint checkpoints and patrols using the name of “Local Defence Committees.”

Local ceasefires have been a goal of Assad’s forces as a way to halt the fighting around the president’s seat of power, the capital Damascus. The army sieges, which include near-daily bombardment, have halted rebel advances and cut off supply lines, but have been unable to dislodge the rebels.

“WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN”

Commentators on both sides were particularly incensed by an image of a female member of the pro-Assad paramilitary group, known as the National Defence Forces, smiling as she spoke to a rebel fighter. Posters on both pro-rebel and pro-Assad Facebook pages called the woman in the picture a “whore.”

“Hey everyone, what is going on in this country? A soldier is kissing a terrorist and girls from the National Defence Forces are making eyes with the terrorists,” said one post on a pro-Assad Facebook page. “The world has been turned upside down, the blood of our brothers and children and the honor of our women has been forgotten.”

Syria’s conflict began as popular street protests against four decades of Assad family rule but, after a violent security crackdown, transformed into a civil war that has killed more than 140,000 people and driven millions from their homes.

The government has commissioned “reconciliation committees” using local dignitaries from the Damascus suburbs to offer the truces, according to a local rebel spokesman, Bara Abdelrahman, speaking by Skype from the opposition-held suburb of Douma.

Neighboring Harasta is said to be the next target for the committees, he said. Rebels detained a group of representatives in Harasta this week, he said, after they met with civilians at a mosque to present a truce offer without fighters present.

“They told them to get the rebels to stop attacking the main highway and then they could get in food and medicine. And honestly, people are exhausted here and hungry, so they started to pressure the rebels and ask why not?” he said. “These committees were turning people against us.”

The deals in each town are broadly the same. They require rebels to raise the government flag and get the siege lifted in return. Most allow rebels to maintain control inside the districts if they give up heavy weaponry.

Even those in support of local ceasefires, however, say such truces are not a sign that local fighters on the ground actually have a better rapport than jet-setting diplomats.

“The regime here was tired of endless strikes with no result and the people tired of being hungry. Of course some areas were going to accept. But the way they got these agreements was through starvation,” said one activist, who asked not to be named. “This isn’t actually a model of reconciliation, whatever the pictures show.”

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Sunday for Arab political forces to “stop the war on Syria,” promising that if they left the country alone, his Lebanese Shi’ite group would also withdraw.

The three-year-old conflict in Syria has fuelled Sunni-Shi’ite tensions in neighboring Lebanon and across the wider Arab world. It has drawn in militants who fight on both sides and receive funding and arms from rival regional powers.

“If you want to prevent this region from falling into chaos that will not end for decades, stop the war on Syria,” Nasrallah said, addressing all political forces in the Arab world.

“Get the fighters out of Syria, let the Syrians reconcile,” the leader of the Iranian-backed movement said. “Of course if that happened, we would not remain in Syria either.”

Hezbollah fighters helped turn the tide for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the military struggle against rebels last year. Assad now has a firm hold on much of central Syrian territory around the capital and the Syrian-Lebanese border.

Nasrallah’s speech also appeared to be a response to Lebanese politician Saad Hariri, who on Friday vowed to tackle militancy within his own Sunni sect but said Hezbollah must end its involvement in Syria to avoid a “sectarian holocaust”.

The Syria conflict has had a destabilizing effect in Lebanon, which is still recovering from its own 1975-1990 civil war. Syria’s rebels are mostly Sunnis, while Assad belongs to the Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.

Sunni militants have become more active in Lebanon since the Syrian conflict began almost three years ago.

They and Syrian rebel groups have carried out several suicide bombings in Hezbollah-controlled areas in Beirut and elsewhere, killing dozens of people. They have vowed to keep attacking Hezbollah until it withdraws its forces from Syria.

Earlier on Saturday, security forces found an explosives-rigged car that was headed to Beirut, an army statement said.

Nasrallah said his Lebanese opponents, including Hariri’s Future movement, could also be targeted by Sunni militants.

“If these groups won, would there be a future for the Future party in Lebanon?” he asked. “All of us will be treated the same and the proof is what has happened in Syria…in Afghanistan or Pakistan or Somalia,” he said, referring to countries where al Qaeda-linked Islamist groups have at times seized territory.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah could not allow rebels to win in Syria, characterizing them all as Islamist radicals, and asked his followers for more sacrifice and patience.

“The people who died in these bombs – women and children, young and old – are just like our men who have been martyred in Syria,” he said. “Is this part of the battle worthwhile? Yes it is worth it.”

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon announced a new government on Saturday, breaking a 10-month political deadlock during which spillover violence from neighboring Syria worsened internal instability.

A caretaker government has run the country since former Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigned in March as parties aligned with the Shi’ite Hezbollah movement and a Sunni-led rival bloc pursued a power struggle exacerbated by their support for opposing sides in Syria’s almost three-year-old civil war.

“A government in the national interest was formed in a spirit of inclusivity,” new Prime Minister Tammam Salam declared on live television.

He said he hoped the new government would allow Lebanon to hold presidential elections before President Michel Suleiman’s mandate expires in May and finally conduct parliamentary polls that were postponed last year due to the political impasse.

“I extend my hand to all the leaders and I am relying on their wisdom to reach these goals and I call on all of them together to make concessions in the interest of our national project,” he said.

Parliament designated the Sunni lawmaker as prime minister in April 2013, but he had been unable to form a government for months due to rivalries between the Hezbollah-dominated March 8 bloc and the March 14 alliance, led by the Sunni Future Party.

Among the top posts announced, former Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, from the March 8 bloc, becomes foreign minister. Former Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, also from March 8, takes the finance portfolio. Nouhad Machnouk, a March 14 legislator, was named interior minister.

Salam said the new cabinet, which he dubbed a “national interest government” was a mandate for the country to fight its growing security problem, which he linked to Syria.

“We must also deal with our complicated economic and social issues, the most important of which is the growing number of refugees from our Syrian brothers and the burdens this has placed on Lebanon,” he said.

Sectarian violence has erupted sporadically in the past year, particularly in the north, and car bombings targeting both security and political targets have increased dramatically, with Hezbollah-dominated areas being the most frequent target.

ENERGY WAS STUMBLING BLOCK

Salam began another attempt to form a government last month, but was thwarted for weeks due to a dispute over who would hold the energy portfolio, a ministry now more significant due to the discovery of gas off Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast.

He had earlier made a deal with political parties that requires all cabinet roles to be rotated among different religious groups in each new government, so that no sect can indefinitely dominate a particular ministry.

The Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a Hezbollah ally, had insisted former Energy Minister Bassil keep his post. The dispute was finally resolved with the appointment of Arthur Nazarian, from the FPM-aligned Tashnag, a small Armenian party.

Lebanon, still struggling to recover from its own 1975-1990 civil war, has found its internal divisions worsened by the conflict in Syria, whose sectarian divisions mirror its own.

Hezbollah, a militant and political movement supported by Shi’ite Iran, is one of the most powerful groups in Lebanon and fought an inconclusive war with Israel in 2006. It has sent fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is a Shi’ite offshoot.

The Future party supports the anti-Assad uprising led largely by the Syria’s Sunni majority.

Syria’s war has aggravated a region-wide struggle for influence involving Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-ruled states against Iran and its Shi’ite allies in Lebanon and Iraq.

The Lebanese cabinet deal could signal that those powers want to stem the wave of violence, which has now spread to Iraq.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Free speech and women’s rights supporters have posted semi-nude photographs of themselves on the Internet to protest at official condemnation of an Olympic skier who posed for a topless calendar shoot.

Switzerland-based Jackie Chamoun, 22, who is skiing for Lebanon at the Winter Games in Sochi, has apologized for photos and a video that appeared online, saying they were never meant to be published and she understood the criticism inside the conservative country.

But after Lebanon’s sports minister said the photos had damaged the country’s reputation, several of her compatriots expressed anger at the outrage in a nation racked by sectarian strife and where violence against women often goes unchallenged.

“You have women facing beatings … you have explosions and so little security here, and people are completely distracted by a few pictures,” said Tarek Muqadam, a photographer who offered to take free naked portraits at a studio in Beirut for the online campaign.

Using the hashtag #stripforjackie, dozens of men and women posed topless or naked, holding strategically placed signs, with the slogan: “I am not naked”.

“I don’t know how much the campaign in and of itself can change anything, but at least it’s a step to get people to think about changing, to think about what’s going on,” said Tarek. “Lebanon used to be known for its freedoms.”

Often described as the playground of the Middle East, Lebanon is more open than many politically and socially conservative neighbors. But activists say censorship is on the rise and women’s rights have long been neglected.

SCANDAL

The original photo of Chamoun, who also competed at the last Winter Olympics, was featured in a 2013 ski-calendar. The skier stands in pink underpants on a snowy summit of Lebanon’s Faraya ski resort, holding a ski to cover her breasts.

But local news channels unearthed a ‘making of’ video that showed her completely topless and called it a scandal.

Chamoun’s supporters have contrasted the minister’s call for an inquiry with the lack of government action on violence against women, a problem highlighted last week when a Lebanese man bludgeoned his wife to death in front of their children.

Since the campaign was launched on Wednesday, its Facebook page has garnered more than 14,000 “likes”. The photo trend has caught on, with many young Lebanese taking their own pictures and posting them to the page, and even companies have joined in.

Almaza, the popular local beer owned by Heineken, posted a photo of its green bottle, without a label. Volkswagen Lebanon posted a picture of a convertible Beetle with the slogan “Taking our top off since 1949.”

Taking part in the photo shoot in Beirut was Sandra, a 22-year-old student who said she was a friend of Chamoun.

“I’m excited. It’s not the first time,” she said, with a wink. “This is the nature of real art. There is nothing taboo.”

She said her motivation was to support free speech.

“We are free to do whatever we want with our body … It’s what we do that matters – what we actually do for society. And what Jackie does is something good.”

BEIRUT, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Free speech and women’s rights supporters have posted semi-nude photographs of themselves on the Internet to protest at official condemnation of an Olympic skier who posed for a topless calendar shoot.

Switzerland-based Jackie Chamoun, 22, who is skiing for Lebanon at the Winter Games in Sochi, has apologised for photos and a video that appeared online, saying they were never meant to be published and she understood the criticism inside the conservative country.

But after Lebanon’s sports minister said the photos had damaged the country’s reputation, several of her compatriots expressed anger at the outrage in a nation racked by sectarian strife and where violence against women often goes unchallenged.

“You have women facing beatings … you have explosions and so little security here, and people are completely distracted by a few pictures,” said Tarek Muqadam, a photographer who offered to take free naked portraits at a studio in Beirut for the online campaign.

Using the hashtag #stripforjackie, dozens of men and women posed topless or naked, holding strategically placed signs, with the slogan: “I am not naked”.

“I don’t know how much the campaign in and of itself can change anything, but at least it’s a step to get people to think about changing, to think about what’s going on,” said Tarek. “Lebanon used to be known for its freedoms.”

Often described as the playground of the Middle East, Lebanon is more open than many politically and socially conservative neighbours. But activists say censorship is on the rise and women’s rights have long been neglected.

SCANDAL

The original photo of Chamoun, who also competed at the last Winter Olympics, was featured in a 2013 ski-calendar. The skier stands in pink underpants on a snowy summit of Lebanon’s Faraya ski resort, holding a ski to cover her breasts.

But local news channels unearthed a ‘making of’ video that showed her completely topless and called it a scandal.

Chamoun’s supporters have contrasted the minister’s call for an inquiry with the lack of government action on violence against women, a problem highlighted last week when a Lebanese man bludgeoned his wife to death in front of their children.

Since the campaign was launched on Wednesday, its Facebook page has garnered more than 14,000 “likes”. The photo trend has caught on, with many young Lebanese taking their own pictures and posting them to the page, and even companies have joined in.

Almaza, the popular local beer owned by Heineken, posted a photo of its green bottle, without a label. Volkswagen Lebanon posted a picture of a convertible Beetle with the slogan “Taking our top off since 1949.”

Taking part in the photo shoot in Beirut was Sandra, a 22-year-old student who said she was a friend of Chamoun.

“I’m excited. It’s not the first time,” she said, with a wink. “This is the nature of real art. There is nothing taboo.”

She said her motivation was to support free speech.

“We are free to do whatever we want with our body … It’s what we do that matters – what we actually do for society. And what Jackie does is something good.” (Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

BEIRUT, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Syrians have been dying in
greater numbers than ever since peace talks began three weeks
ago, activists said on Wednesday, as troops pounded rebel towns
on the Lebanese border and negotiations faltered in Geneva.

More than 230 people have been killed every day in Syria
since Jan. 22, when international mediators brought President
Bashar al-Assad’s government and its opponents together, the
British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. That is
more than in any other three weeks since the war began in 2011.

It is unclear how far the bloodshed is a consequence of the
talks, as both sides seek to improve their bargaining positions
by gaining territory. On Wednesday, Assad’s army and fighters
from Lebanese ally Hezbollah pounded the strategic border town
of Yabroud where rebels prepared to resist a ground offensive.

The United Nations says more than 130,000 Syrians have been
killed in nearly three years of fighting. Totalling at least
4,959, the three-week death toll compiled by the Observatory
included 515 women and children. The group estimated about a
third of all the dead were civilians.

“This is the highest average we have had,” said Rami
Abdelrahman of the Observatory as the group urged a suspension
of negotiations at Geneva if there was no immediate ceasefire.

There was little sign of an early breakthrough on the third
day of a second round of talks in the Swiss city.

The opposition, which has little sway over rebels fighting
on the ground, called for a transitional governing body to
oversee a U.N.-monitored ceasefire and expel foreign fighters in
a paper that avoided any mention of Assad – whose departure the
government delegation has refused to discuss.

The confidential paper, seen by Reuters, did not draw an
immediate official response from the government, although the
foreign minister said driving out foreign fighters could be
worth discussing in time – rare common ground.

Foreign, anti-Western Islamists are a major force among the
otherwise Western- and Arab-backed rebels. The opposition wants
rid of Assad’s Hezbollah and Iranian auxiliaries.

BORDER BATTLE

The fighting around Yabroud is part of a broader “Battle for
Qalamoun”, the mountainous border area near Damascus that offers
control over routes to Lebanon and between the capital and the
coastal stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.

Government forces seem to have had the better of recent
fighting, but outright victory seems out of reach. As U.S.
intelligence chief James Clapper put it on Tuesday, a “prolonged
stalemate” seems likely, extending what he described as “an
apocalyptic disaster” in Syria.

A spokesman for the rebel unit Liwa al-Ghuraba at Yabroud,
said Hezbollah fighters and Assad forces were trying to position
themselves on nearby hilltops to attack the town.

“They are gathering their forces with the hope of taking the
border road,” said spokesman Abu Anas. “Right now no one is
moving in Yabroud. The rebels are blocking the offensive.

“The hospital is filling up with wounded.”

Assad’s forces had, he said, sent envoys in the days leading
up to the attack to try to convince leading citizens in nearby
towns to accept a truce. Some villages accepted, but most towns,
like Yabroud, refused, Abu Anas said.

“The battle for Qalamoun was supposed to just be a
propaganda campaign,” he said.

“But the regime got itself in a mess: The army sent people
to convince us there could be a peaceful solution if we raised
the government flag and took photos. Instead, we refused.”

OPPOSITION GAMBIT

Concern about talks running into the sand prompted the
mediator in Geneva, Lakhdar Brahimi, to bring forward by a day
to Thursday a meeting with Russian and U.S. officials in an
effort to get Washington, which backs the rebels, and Assad’s
ally Russia, to press their proteges.

Continued strains between Russia and other world powers that
have so far blocked U.N. action against the Syrian government
showed little sign of easing. Russia said it would veto a U.N.
resolution on aid, saying its wording seemed meant to open the
way for foreign military action.

And a foreign ministry spokesman in Moscow said Barack Obama
had “intentionally distorted” the Russian position in remarks
the U.S. president had made on Syrian aid on Tuesday.

The struggle on the Syrian border risks fuelling sectarian
tensions in Lebanon, where Sunni-Shi’ite divisions deepened by
the conflict in Syria have already triggered instability.

The violence in Syria has set off a wave of tit-for-tat car
bombings in Lebanon, as well as street clashes. On Wednesday,
the Lebanese army arrested an al Qaeda militant whom security
sources called a “mastermind of car bombs”.

In Geneva, opposition and diplomatic sources said the
transition proposal from the opposition avoided reference to
Assad, in line with a text agreed by world powers in June 2012
which calls for a body with full executive authority but leaves
the president’s fate open – something Russia has insisted on.

Asked why the document did not go into the fate of Assad,
the opposition’s chief negotiator, Hadi al-Bahra, told Reuters:

“We can no longer talk about one person as the sole
embodiment of Syria. We deliberately presented a legal paper.”

The memorandum was presented to mediator Lakhdar Brahimi and
the government delegation. The transitional authority will be
“the only legitimate body that represents the sovereignty and
independence of the Syrian state and is the only one that
represents the Syrian state internationally”, the paper said.

The Syrian government delegation said that negotiations must
focus first on combating terrorism – its term for all fighters -
and called parallel talks on the opposition’s priority of a
transitional government as a “fruitless” idea.

The opposition document says the transitional body would
“prepare and oversee a total ceasefire by taking immediate
measures to stop military violence, protect civilians and
stabilise the country in the presence of U.N. observers.”

BEIRUT (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and fighters from Lebanese ally Hezbollah pounded Syria’s strategic border town of Yabroud on Wednesday, activists said, in apparent preparation for a new offensive to flush out rebels.

The assault is the latest step in Assad and Hezbollah’s campaign to assert control over the Lebanese-Syrian border region and fortify the president’s hold on central Syria, from the capital Damascus to his stronghold on the coast.

Syrian state media said the army had seized the nearby village al-Jarajeer, while rebels said Assad’s forces had advanced on the area but had not completely taken it.

The military push came as international peace talks in Geneva seized up in mutual recrimination, with the government resisting discussion of a post-Assad transition while the opposition called for a U.N.-monitored ceasefire.

There has been little let-up in fighting despite the start of the first peace negotiations three weeks ago after nearly three years of war. Assad’s forces seem to have had the better of recent fighting, but outright victory seems out of reach.

As U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper put it to senators on Tuesday, a “prolonged stalemate” seems likely, extending what he described as “an apocalyptic disaster” in Syria.

MOUNTAIN BATTLE

On Wednesday, more than 13 air strikes hit the government’s target area around Yabroud in the frontier mountains, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Overnight clashes between Assad’s forces and the opposition on the outskirts of Yabroud continued into the morning.

A spokesman for the rebel unit Liwa al-Ghuraba, said Hezbollah fighters and Assad forces were trying to position themselves on nearby hilltops to attack Yabroud.

“They are gathering their forces with the hope of taking the border road,” said spokesman Abu Anas, speaking by Skype. “Right now no one is moving in Yabroud. The rebels are blocking the offensive … The hospital is filling up with wounded.”

Lebanese media said dozens wounded in Syria had been sent to Lebanese hospitals as well.

The attack on Yabroud is part of what locals have called the “Battle for Qalamoun”, the name of a mountainous region along the frontier with Lebanon used by both the rebels and Assad’s allies to bring in people and supplies.

Assad’s forces sent in envoys in the days leading up to the attack to try to convince leading citizens in nearby towns to accept a truce. Some villages accepted, but most towns, like Yabroud, refused, said the rebel Abu Anas.

“The battle for Qalamoun was supposed to just be a propaganda campaign,” he said. “But the regime got itself in a mess: The army sent people to convince us there could be a peaceful solution if we raised the government flag and took photos. Instead, we refused.”

Activists in rebel-held besieged areas elsewhere who have accepted similar conditions in the past, in exchange for allowing in food and supplies, have said the truce ended up being more of a surrender, with little aid being allowed in.

Concern about talks running into the sand prompted the international mediator in Geneva, Lakhdar Brahimi, to bring forward by a day to Thursday a meeting with Russian and U.S. officials in an apparent attempt to get Washington, which backs the rebels, and Assad’s ally Russia, to press their proteges.

Continued strains between Russia and other world powers that have so far blocked U.N. action against the Syrian government showed little sign of easing. Russia said it would veto a U.N. resolution on aid, saying its wording seemed meant to open the way for foreign military action.

SECTARIAN STRUGGLE

The struggle on the Syrian border risks fuelling sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where Sunni-Shi’ite divisions deepened by the conflict in Syria have already triggered instability.

Rebels fighting to end four decades of Assad family rule are led largely by Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and have strong support from Sunnis in neighboring Lebanon. Many of the fighting units in Yabroud are Islamist, including some with links to al Qaeda.

Assad’s forces have support from minorities, particularly his Alawite sect, an offshoot of the Shi’ite Islam practised in Iran. Assad’s campaign in central Syria gained a huge boost from the support of Shi’ite Hezbollah’s experienced fighters, who battled Israel in a 2006 war.

The violence in Syria has set off a wave of tit-for-tat car bombings in Lebanon by both sides, as well as sporadic street clashes. On Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said the army had arrested an al Qaeda militant they called the “mastermind of car bombs” in Shi’ite areas.

Opposition activists argue the assaults around Yabroud are also an effort to systematically push out Sunnis from Syria’s mixed Sunni-Shi’ite border region.

Activists said the fresh surge in fighting sent many civilians fleeing out of Yabroud, with many heading to Lebanon.

Recently arrived refugees told the Lebanese newspaper the Daily Star that Syrian army forces warned them over mosque loudspeakers to flee the area if they wanted to save their lives.

Syria’s army warned residents not to use illegal border crossings to escape, Lebanese news channel Al Manar said, implying such routes could be targeted by the military.

Previous successful military assaults have given Assad the advantage along the Lebanese border. It was once a critical foothold for the rebels, whose main strongholds are now in Syria’s northern and eastern regions as well as along parts of the southern border.

Syria’s three-year conflict began as peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule but descended into an armed conflict after a security force crackdown.

The fighting has killed well over 130,000 people and has forced more than 6 million people to flee their homes.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – An al Qaeda splinter group has withdrawn its forces from Syria’s oil-rich eastern province of Deir al-Zor, activists and rebels said on Monday, after days of heavy fighting with its rivals.

Rebel groups, including al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate the Nusra Front, have been battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for control of towns and oilfields Deir al-Zor.

“The ISIL fighters have almost completely withdrawn from Deir al-Zor. The fighters are moving to Hassaka and Raqqa (provinces),” said a source from the Nusra Front, who asked not to be named. Raqqa remains an ISIL stronghold.

ISIL activists on Twitter said the group had pulled out of Deir al-Zor to prevent further bloodshed among rebel factions who are supposed to be fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

ISIL’s supporters said the estimated 200 fighters leaving Deir al-Zor would probably turn to assassinations and car bombings against the remaining rebel groups in the province – a tactic the group has used in other opposition-held areas.

Several Islamist and more secular rebel groups teamed up last month for an offensive to try to push their former ISIL allies out of rebel-held regions in northern and eastern Syria.

Activists in Deir al-Zor posted videos on the Internet that showed the main ISIL headquarters in the province collapse into a cloud of dust as rebels blew up the building.

ISIL, which has attracted many foreign militants into its ranks, is a small but powerful fighting force in Syria, and also operates in neighboring Iraq. It has alienated many civilians and opposition activists by imposing harsh rulings against dissent, even beheading its opponents, in areas it controls.

More than 2,300 rebels have been killed in the past month of infighting, making it the bloodiest such episode since the Syrian conflict began nearly three years ago.

Peaceful anti-Assad protests in March 2011 drew a violent response from the security forces, leading to an armed revolt that degenerated into a civil war now estimated to have killed more than 130,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.

Dozens of people were killed in fighting between ISIL and its rivals at the weekend. In one incident, an ISIL suicide car bomber blew himself up among a crowd of civilians and fighters near a market, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, killing more than 20, including six children.

ISIL is a rebranded version of al Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq, but it has defied the main network’s requests to limit itself to fighting there instead of Syria. Al Qaeda’s central leadership formally announced a split with ISIL earlier this month.

The Observatory, a British-based pro-opposition monitoring group, said Deir al-Zor was now in the hands of Nusra fighters as well as those from 10 other rebel groups.

“There were heavy clashes. ISIL asked for mediation but the Nusra Front rejected that, so it pulled out,” he said.

Some activists said one of ISIL’s Deir al-Zor leaders, known as Abu Ther al-Iraqi, was captured by rebels on Monday.

Unlike other Islamist groups such as Nusra, which share similar austere interpretations of Islam, ISIL has tried to set up an Islamic caliphate in territory it has seized in Iraq and Syria. Other Syrian rebels want to topple Assad before deciding on a ruling system, though many also want an Islamic government.

BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations on Thursday welcomed reports that an agreement had been reached to allow the evacuation of civilians from the besieged Syrian city of Homs as well as the delivery of aid, while Washington voiced scepticism about the government’s intentions.

The United Nations made clear that it was not a party to the deal and while it was ready to send in aid, it did not yet have the go-ahead from the government and opposition sides in Syria’s war to move on the reported agreement.

“The United Nations and humanitarian partners had pre-positioned food, medical and other basic supplies on the outskirts of Homs ready for immediate delivery as soon as the green light was given by the parties for safe passage,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement.

Syria earlier said it reached a deal to allow “innocent” civilians to leave the rebel-held old city of Homs, potentially the first positive result after last week’s deadlocked peace talks in Switzerland.

But U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power questioned the sincerity of the Syrian government’s intentions.

“Given that the regime, up to this point, has described just about anybody living in opposition territory as a terrorist – and has attacked them as such – you know, we have reason on the basis of history to be very sceptical,” she said in New York.

Power added that Washington was “very concerned about anybody who falls into regime hands who comes from a part of the country that has been under opposition control.”

The government’s announcement came hours after rebels declared a new offensive in the northern province of Aleppo in response to an escalated air assault by government forces trying to recapture territory and drive residents out of opposition-held areas.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have used siege tactics to surround and try to starve out rebels holding strategic areas, a technique increasingly copied by rebels as well.

The siege of the old city of Homs has gone on for over a year, and activists say 2,500 people are trapped inside the area struggling with hunger and malnourishment. They represent only a small fraction of besieged Syrians across the country in desperate need of aid.

“INNOCENT CIVILIANS”

“The agreement will allow innocent civilians surrounded in the neighbourhoods of Old Homs – among them women and children, the wounded and the elderly – an opportunity to leave as soon as the necessary arrangements, in addition to offering them humanitarian aid,” said a Syrian Foreign Ministry statement, cited on Syria TV.

“It will also allow in aid to civilians who choose to stay inside the old city.”

Delegates from Syria’s warring sides met face to face for the first time at the “Geneva 2,” peace conference last week, but were unable to agree anything, even a humanitarian deal for Homs that diplomats had hoped could be a relatively easy first step.

A second round of talks is scheduled for next week.

The government statement also did not elaborate on who would be considered an “innocent.”

Rebels have rejected similar offers to evacuate women and children in the past because of fear for the fate of any men left behind. Dozens of men disappeared after a similar deal reached in Mouadamiya, west of Damascus.

RIA news agency from Assad’s ally Russia quoted an unnamed official at Syria’s Defense Ministry saying rebel fighters were keeping civilians in the area as human shields.

“As for civilians, we are not holding them up or refusing them humanitarian aid but the terrorists are the problem,” it quoted the source as saying. “Terrorists are claiming that there are only civilians in the Old City who need humanitarian aid. In fact, it’s terrorists who are mainly there, including foreign militants, using small groups of civilians held as hostages.”

RIA said the evacuation of civilians and entrance of humanitarian aid were due to start early on Friday, but that was no immediately confirmed by the United Nations.

ARMED INSURGENCY

Syria’s nearly three-year-old conflict began as peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule and devolved into an armed insurgency after a fierce security crackdown.

Now the major Arab state is in a full-scale civil war that has killed more than 130,000 people and forced over 6 million – nearly a third of its population – to flee their homes.

In Aleppo, the Islamic Front, Syria’s largest Sunni Islamist rebel alliance, has joined forces with the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda franchise in Syria, to launch an assault dubbed “The just promise approaches,” a reference to a Koranic verse about Judgment Day.

Assad’s forces recently mounted a series of attacks on the city of Aleppo, once Syria’s business hub, using so-called barrel bombs – oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and metal fragments, dropped out of helicopters.

They are an indiscriminate weapon, that activists say is being used to push civilians out as the army tries to seize the initiative on the long-stalemated Aleppo battlefront.

“All military forces in their bases should head to the front lines, otherwise they will be questioned and held accountable,” a joint rebel statement said.

It warned residents near checkpoints and bases held by Syrian government forces to leave within the next 24 hours, saying the areas would be the insurgents’ main targets.

Forces loyal to Assad have been making small gains on rebel-held parts of Syria’s second city, advances which many opposition sources blame on weeks of rebel infighting that left more than 2,300 combatants dead.

The Islamic Front and some of its secular rebel allies are trying to oust an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, with whom they have ideological and territorial disputes.

Since government forces unleashed the barrel-bombing campaign on rebel-held Aleppo last week, residents have been leaving in droves to seek refuge in government-held parts of the divided city.

Others have fled to Turkey, where many have been held up at the border crossing as camps near Aleppo faced overcrowding.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Nusra Front fighters and the Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham had taken over a large part of Aleppo prison, freeing hundreds of prisoners and killing or wounding dozens of members of the security forces.